An Emerald Pendant
by Phoenix Of Hope
Summary: Draco has been shut in Azkaban for 15 years. His thoughts on life before...


"An Emerald Pendant, Encased in Silver" ~Ricca  
  
Draco Malfoy was lying on his back, on the stone floor of his cell. His long blonde hair was dirty and matted, it hadn't been washed properly in years. This was his 15th year in Azkaban, the 15th year of his life sentence that won't be repealed. Ever.  
  
Draco was reminiscing about life, one of the few subjects he ever thought about anymore. Mostly, he thought about life in terms of his daughter, his ill-begotten child. The daughter he never knew, never would know. Draco briefly wondered if she had the emerald pendant, an heirloom of the Malfoy family. It was a tear shaped stone, encased in silver mounting, on a delicate silver chain. It was the only thing Draco shared with his daughter; the only thing that connected him to her.  
  
Hermione Granger. The mother of his daughter. A smile formed on Draco's chapped lips. She was his first assignment as a Death Eater, and his last. Voldemort commanded Draco to distract the then 17-year-old Head Girl of Hogwarts from her friends; to prevent Hermione from helping Harry Potter most importantly. In the end, it didn't matter anyway, Harry Potter had vanquished the Dark Lord on his own, killed for the last time that night. And that night, Draco did what he did best at 17, he seduced the girl. Hermione had been so beautiful that night, in the moonlight. So beautiful, in fact, that it made Draco feel guilty as to what he was doing, and feel the closest thing he had felt to love, at that time. Now, he knew what love was; for he loved his daughter like none other. He hadn't seen his daughter since her birth, the only time he was ever let out of Azkaban, six months into his life sentence. Draco was the first person his daughter saw, he had been holding her for the first time, the only time, when the tiny baby girl opened her big blue eyes and stared into his. Draco had felt his life change in that moment, and knew he could never, would never, forget it.  
  
Draco still found it remarkable that he had been able to attend the birth of his daughter. Then again, he knew that Harry Potter had lobbied on behalf of Hermione to allow Draco to be there. Like they would have refused the [I]Great[/I] Harry Potter after he had just killed Lord Voldemort? Draco was still bitter over that, for he still hated Harry Potter, the old Hogwarts grudge never fading. Maybe that was because Harry, who had risen through the Ministry quickly and became Minister, had decreed that no convicted Death Eater would ever get parole. Harry, fresh out of Hogwarts had become a top Auror, and then rose from there to become the youngest Minister of Magic, just 21, and only 5 years out of Hogwarts. Its been ten years since Harry's first election and win, and the wizard of Britain keep re-electing the man who delivered them from fear and pain, from Voldemort.  
  
A tear slid down the side on Draco's face. He felt his life had been taken wrongly from him. He had seen his daughter but once, and only when she was born. It cut him deeply to think of everything in her life that she had missed. He would have given her the world, if given the chance too. His parents didn't even take her, his daughter was a half-blood, and they too, were soon after situated in separate cells in Azkaban. Draco was hurt by that, the betrayal of his parents, and that of Hermione. She never told him their daughter's name.  
  
Draco coughed, sitting up  
  
"Not again." His hoarse, unused voice echoed in his cell. He was but a mere shadow of his former self, having rotten in Azkaban, just like Potter had wanted. The small cough triggered a coughing fit, raking Draco's body. Doubled over in pain, Draco convulsed. When the fit ceased, he swallowed, and wiped his mouth on his gray sleeve, stained brown by blood. He laid down, closing his eyes for the last time.  
  
Draco could feel the mortal life slipping from his weak grasp. One last time, he recalled his daughter, smiling. He drew a rattling breath, and slipped from this world and into the next. Draco Malfoy was finally at peace.  
  
Miles away, Eden Malfoy sat on her bed, in her mother's home. She was heir to the Malfoy family, one of the few purebloods left, though she was, herself, a half-blood. She was but 14 years old, watching the sunrise and her summer dwindle. In a few days, she would return to Hogwarts, she was in Ravenclaw house. Though she looked forward to school, Eden was more excited about the day that was dawning. She stood at her window, taking in the early morning, the light pink and orange hues gently caressing the blue of night. Light was taking over the dark, a new day was beginning. And it would be a new beginning for Eden, she was to meet her father for the first time, and there was nothing to stop her. Eden looked like a Malfoy, or so everyone said. She had dirty blonde hair, blue eyes. Not a trace of her mother in her. A tear of joy slid down her face, she would finally meet her father. The tear fell onto her trembling hands, trembling hands that clutched an emerald pendant, encased in silver. ~*~ 


End file.
